"National College Signing Day": What about other career paths that don't require college?

Making college available to everyone is a wonderful idea. But let’s not ignore career paths that do not require college, and are just as or even more demanding. Former US Secretary of Heath, Education and Welfare John Gardner warned us of the consequences of a policy that values “academic” careers over other careers: "The society which scorns excellence in plumbing as a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy: neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water."